The present invention relates to a display including a display module such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or a CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube) and more particularly to a display capable of controlling various functions by operating a display area of the display.
Various displays including the display module such as the LCD or the CRT have been heretofore known. Various displays having an input function using a touch panel overlaid on the display area of the display module have been also known. Such a display controls the function of turning on or off a main power switch, for example, in the following manner. The switch displayed on the display area of the display module is clicked and pointed at with a pointing device. The display including the touch panel controls the functions in the following manner. The switch displayed on the touch panel is pointed at with a touch of the finger or the like.
The above-described control of the functions cannot be executed when a power supply of the display module or the touch panel is not on. It is thus necessary to always keep the power supply of the display module or the touch panel on. Power consumption is therefore increased. Especially when the display is used for a mobile terminal such as a notebook PC, available time is reduced proportional to the time period for which the display is carried. The available time is extremely important for the use in the mobile terminal. A serious problem is that the available time is thus reduced. Moreover, a recent requirement is that the power consumption while in standby mode be reduced to a minimum level or to zero from an environmental standpoint.
Various techniques are known in order to solve the above-described problem of the available time, i.e., the problem of power saving. One technique is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-276085 in which a proximity sensor is provided on the touch panel. In the system disclosed in that publication, the power supply of the touch panel is turned on when a person approaches the sensor for the purpose of operation or the like and thus the proximity sensor generates a sense signal. Conversely, the power supply of the touch panel is turned off when a sense signal is not generated. Another technique is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 3-19566 in which a push button switch is provided on the touch panel. Under that system, the push button switch is turned on by touching the touch panel with the finger or the like; and, the touch panel is turned on only at this time, whereby the power consumption is reduced.
However, the above-mentioned techniques cannot fully achieve the desired power saving. Thus, a problem exists whereby it is impossible to provide a display which is capable of achieving the sufficient power saving that is increasingly required and which is capable of increasing the available time of the display. Another problem which exists is that, even if the power saving can be achieved to some extent, the problem of security is not considered at all when the function is executed. Thus, even an ill-intentioned third party can easily perform the on-off control of the display under the prior art systems.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a display which can achieve functions such as power saving for various units by a simple constitution and which can also maintain security.
The foregoing and other objects are realized by the present invention for use with a display including a display module such as an LCD or a CRT, and preferably for a display having an input function using a touch panel overlaid on a display area. The display comprises a display area and at least one touch switch region formed in the display area, which touch switch region is driven by an independent power supply. Preferably, the touch switch region may be formed by providing a small touch panel at a predetermined position of the display area of the display. In the display including the touch panel, preferably the touch switch region may be formed by overlaying another touch panel on a surface of the main touch panel, or by separating a part of the touch panel from the main touch panel. Then, the touch switch region is operated with a predetermined input, whereby predetermined functions are controlled.
When not much consideration is given to security, the predetermined input can be provided simply by touching one touch switch region. When security is a consideration, however, the predetermined input can be provided by a touch of one specific touch switch region, or by simultaneous touching of a plurality of touch switch regions once or a plurality of times in a predetermined order. Moreover, the touch switch region is provided with an image read function and, at the time of the predetermined input, fingerprint authentication can be performed simultaneously with the touch of the touch switch region. Alternatively, a window is displayed on the touch panel simultaneously with the touch of the touch switch region, a signature is written on the displayed window, and then signature authentication can be performed.
Furthermore, predetermined functions to be controlled include on-off control of a main power switch, on-off control of a display module of the display, on-off control of a function unit, on-off control of a system unit, or on-off control of the touch panel if the display has the touch panel. The function unit is a fingerprint authentication unit or a signature authentication unit. The system unit is a system power switch or a system suspend/resume switch.
In the present invention, normally, at least one touch switch region which is alone to be driven by the independent power supply can be always kept driven, and the power supplies of all the other functions can be kept off. Only when a user wants to control a predetermined function is the power supply of a predetermined function turned on and controlled with the touch of the touch switch region. Therefore, sufficient power saving can be achieved. Moreover, (1) the input for controlling a predetermined function is provided by the touch of one touch switch region or the simultaneous touch of a plurality of touch switch regions once or a plurality of times in a predetermined order; (2) the touch switch region is provided with the image read function, and at the time of a predetermined input operation, fingerprint authentication is performed simultaneously with the touch of the touch switch region; or (3) the window is displayed on the touch panel simultaneously with the touch of the touch switch region, the signature is written on the displayed window, and signature authentication is performed. Due to any one of the above (1) to (3), a third party who does not know an input order or has an unauthorized fingerprint or signature cannot use the function. Thus, security can be maintained.